FORT WORTH, Texas - The TCU Horned Frogs held a 6-1 lead heading into the ninth inning, but Houston stormed back with a six-run ninth inning to stun the Frogs, 7-6. The Frogs pounded out 13 hits in the game, but stranded 12 baserunners in the loss.

In the ninth inning, Houston worked a pair of lead-off walks and Tyler Magliolo collected a base hit to load the bases with nobody out. After the first out of the inning was recorded, three straight Cougars reached base, cutting the lead down to two, 6-4. Chase Jensen grounded out for the second out of the inning to make it a 6-5 contest. The big blow was a two-run double off the bat of Matt Creel that turned the Frog lead into a 7-6 deficit.

TCU took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. Brance Rivera led the frame off with a bloop single into right field. An Aaron Schultz sacrifice pushed him to second and he scored on a base hit up the middle by Jason Coats.

The Frogs tallied three two-out runs in the second inning to open up a 4-0 advantage. Josh Elander led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a one-out base hit off the bat of Kyle Von Tungeln. A double steal put both runners in scoring position with two outs. Schultz drilled the ball off the shortstop to drive in the runners and then stole second. Taylor Featherston followed with a base hit to right to plate Schultz.

Weik led off the sixth inning with a double and moved to third on a Von Tungeln base hit. Rivera reached on a pop-up double and Schultz was hit by the pitch to load the bases with one out. Featherston bounced a ground ball over the head of the third base for a base hit that played two runs. A base-running miscue on what should have been a sacrifice fly ended the inning without any more runs scoring.

TCU wasted a golden opportunity in the seventh inning to extend its lead. Jerome Pena was hit with one out and moved to third on a double off the bat of Jimmie Pharr. Houston pitcher Luke Moran got a strikeout and a pop up to end the inning.

Houston cracked the scoreboard in the eighth inning to make it a 6-1 ballgame. The Cougars tallied back-to-back singles to open the eight, but Winkler got a double play ball for a big two outs. Jensen hit a dribbler down the third base line that plated the first run of the game for Houston, setting up the come-from-behind victory.

In a no-decision, Kyle Winkler threw eight solid innings in his sixth start of the season. He allowed one run on five hits, walked three and fanned nine. Teddy Nowell was tagged for two runs after issuing a pair of walks. Starratt gave up three runs on three hits in 1/3 of an inning. Erik Miller (0-4) took the loss as he gave up a run on one hit in 2/3 of an inning.

TCU falls to 13-8 on the season. The Frogs and the Cougars will take the field for game two of the series Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. Matt Purke will take the mound for the Frogs.

Game Notes:
 Brance Rivera extended his hitting streak to 21 games. That ties for the second longest streak under head coach Jim Schlossnagle. German Duran posted a 21-game hitting streak in 2004.
 Thirteen times this season, Rivera has extended his hitting streak in his first at-bat of the game.
 Aaron Schultz extended his hitting streak to seven games with an infield single in the second.
 TCU falls to 1-5 in one-run ballgames.
 The Horned Frogs were 13-0 when leading after eight innings coming into game. They had won 86 straight when leading after eight dating back to a 2-1 loss to San Diego State on March 29, 2009.

Postgame Quote:
TCU Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle
On the loss:
"Toughest loss we have had since I have been at TCU. No question about it. It is all about why it happened, and it wasn't just the last inning. We are swinging the bat well, but we failed to execute and we did a lot of poor things on offense. We should have had 10 or 11 runs, but it wasn't because of not hitting. It was a failure to get a bunt down, base running mistakes; those things cost us in the ninth inning, and Houston did a good job.

On the pitching for TCU in the ninth:
"If I leave Kyle Winkler in the game, we win. But I am not going to run our staff into the ground. There are other programs out there that do that, but this is not one of them. He had done his job; we had a five run lead in the ninth inning. It is Friday, we have plenty of arms in the bullpen and we just can't get them out."